A New Delhi court on Saturday gave a guilty verdict in the case of a teenager accused of taking part in the fatal gang-rape of a student.

The teenager was 17 at the time of the brutal assault on a moving bus last December.

The juvenile will be sent to a special home for a three-year term.

The separate trial of four adult suspects is hearing closing arguments and is expected to wrap up in the next few weeks, with the men facing a possible death sentence if convicted.

The fifth adult, the suspected ring leader, died in jail in an apparent suicide.

The parents of the victim have called for their daughter's attackers to be hanged and criticised what they view as the leniency of the juvenile justice system, which seeks to reform rather than punish.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died of internal injuries after being raped and assaulted with an iron bar on December 16. Her male companion was also allegedly beaten up before both were thrown from the bus.

The crime brought simmering anger about endemic sex crime in India to the boil.